Romulans, Anyone?
by ChristianGateFan
Summary: Romulans attack the Enterprise and take several people prisoner. Wesley and one of his friends are among them. Can they escape before the Romulan ship reaches Romulus? Can they get back to the Enterprise alive?R&R please!
1. A new friend

"Romulans, Anyone?"

By: Kaitlyn M. Wooley

Based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry

Chapter 1

Kathren Troi took a deep breath, a bit of nervousness tickling the back of her throaght. Almost all of her life she had dreamed of this day, the day she would finally report to her first assignment as a real Starfleet officer. She had wanted this ever since her adopted sister Deanna had told her all about her own job in Starfleet. Even though Deanna was almost twenty years older than her, and wasn't her sister by birth, Kathren adored her. She'd always wanted to be just like her.

Well, not _exactly_ like her, she thought with a smile; she'd never want to be a counselor. Things like that didn't interest her. She liked helping people, but she was clueless when it came to psychology, and often became confused when Deanna went into specifics while talking about her work. So, Kathren had chosen another field where she could help people, and one that_ did_ interest her-the medical field. Now she was in Starfleet; the dream she'd had since meeting her new sister when she was adopted at the age of three had come true. The only thing was that that she hadn't expected it to come true this quickly.

She didn't even remember how it all had happened. After convincing her mother to let her, she had studied hard at home, preparing for the day when she would be old enough to apply to go to Starfleet Academy. Then something had happened, some special program, and she had applied for it. She and several other exceptionally bright ten-to-fourteen-year-olds had been tested. She had been eleven at the time. Later, she and two other students had been shocked and delighted to learn that they would be accepted to the academy-and start the next year. So she had entered Starfleet Academy at the age of twelve. The other two were eleven and fourteen and the three of them had become close friends while there. Kathren was sad to learn that none of them had been assigned to the same ship, but she was certainly happy that she had been assigned to the _Enterprise_, the ship her sister served on.

So here she was-sixteen, and waiting to be transported over to the Starflleet ship where she would be serving. Lwaxana Troi had gone to the trouble of coming with her daughter to the starbase, where they were now waiting in a transporter room along with a few other new crewmembers transferring to the _Enterprise_.

_Kathren_, her mother's voice sounded in her mind. Kathren pulled herself out of the past and turned to her mother, realizing as she did so that the rest of the waiting officers in the transporter room were moving onto the platform.

_Oh_, she thought back, slightly embarrassed.

Lwaxana hugged her, _Goodbye, dear_.

_Goodbye, mother. I love you._

_I love you too_, she said, smiling at her daughter. _Take care now, and say hello to Deanna for me_.

_The _Enterprise_ is right out there,_ Kathren thought, confused._ You can't talk to her telepathically from here?_ She knew _she_ couldn't-her telepathic abilities were not near as strong or developed as Lwaxana Troi's-but her mother should have been able to.

Now Lwaxana's smile widened, _Actually I could, but it would annoy her too much. _Mother and daughter laughed over that for a few seconds, and embraced. Then Kathren shouldered her bag, but hesitated before stepping up onto the platform.

_Go on_, Mrs. Troi encouraged gently. Kathren smiled at her mother and stepped onto the transporter pad. Before she knew it, she was on her way.

In a transporter room on the _Enterprise_, Deanna Troi had already been waiting for several minutes when the transporter platform finally began to sparkle, and four forms began to take shape. The ship's counselor could barely contain her excitement as the officers being transported materialized. As soon as the transport was complete, Kathren nearly jumped off the platform and into her sister's arms, both of them talking at once. The other three officers, who were transferring, filed out of the room after being warmly welcomed by Chief O'Brien, and left the two sisters to catch up. It had been about four years since they had seen each other in person, due to the fact that Deanna was in Starfleet and Kathren had been at the academy.

Deanna looked at her much younger sister, who had to have grown at least four or five inches since she had seen her last, and was now up to somewhere around her ears. "Goodness," she said. "You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."

Kathren laughed, "Yeah. I just hope I'm not finished yet."

"Oh, you'll probably be about as tall as I am. If I remember correctly, I was about as tall as you are now when I was your age. Now come on, and I'll show you our quarters," Deanna said.

"_Our?_"

"Um, yes. Mother insisted that you stay with me, but it's not a problem. There's another bedroom for you in those quarters that I don't use, anyway."

"Okay, that'll work; I'd like that."

"I'm glad."

The two of them thanked Chief O'Brien and exited the transporter room. Then Kathren looked at her sister and said, "Mother insisted, huh?" she asked.

"Yes."

"She can be very persuasive."

"Of course, and annoying too."

"But she chose not to be annoying today," Kathren added.

"How so?"

"Well, she told me to say hello to you for her. She could have spoke to you from the station, but she didn't because she knew it might annoy you."

Deanna smiled wryly, "Since when has that stopped her?"

They laughed as they stepped into a turbolift.

"Once you put your bag in your new room, we need to go to Ten-Forward. I'm having a friend of mine meet us there so I can introduce you to her."

"Sure, that sounds nice. I'd love to meet one of your friends."

About half an hour later, Kathren followed her sister into the busy Ten-Forward lounge, scanning her surroundings and smiling at the view the large windows at the front of the room provided. But then she had to take her eyes off the windows in order to follow Deanna through the crowd of people that were streaming in, having just come off duty. She looked ahead, and saw Deanna seemed to be leading them toward a small table at one side of the room. But the table contained two occupants, not one, as she had expected. One was a pretty, red-haired woman, and the other was a brown-haired teenager that looked to be about her age.

When the two of them neared the table, the woman spotted them and both she and the boy stood. The boy hung back as the woman greeted them, but Kathren didn't blame him. With him here, she was beginning to get a little nervous herself.

"Hi Deanna," the woman said. Then she turned to Kathren, "And this must be the sister you've told us so much about."

Kathren smiled, and Deanna said, "This is her. Kathren, this is Beverly Crusher."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Kathren said, extending a hand.

Beverly took it, "Nice to meet you, too."

"Well, it's good that you two are off to a nice start. Beverly is the Chief Medical Officer on board, so you'll be working with her," Deanna said to Kathren.

Kathren's smile widened,"I think I'll like that."

"I'm looking forward to it," Dr. Crusher said. "Like I said, Deanna has told us a lot about you."

"Oh really?" Kathren asked, looking at her sister.

"You're all she's talked about for the last few days." The boy said. Kathren glanced at him in mild surprise; he hadn't said anything until now. Beverly motioned to him, and he took a step or two forward to stand next to her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I forgot to introduce you. This is my son, Wesley."

"Hi," he said as they shook hands. "You know, you really are pretty much all she's been talking about. When there would be nothing to do on the bridge she'd start talking about how excited she was about you being assigned to the _Enterprise._"

"The bridge?" Kathren asked, puzzled.

"Well," Wesley said. "It's a long story. I'm 17, but I'm also an acting ensign."

"Oh. So that's why you're wearing a combadge. I was curious about that. An 'acting ensign' you say? Sounds interesting. I'd like to hear that long story."

By that time, both teenagers had all but forgotten about the adults standing no more than two feet away. At the same time, they sat down at the table across from each other and began to talk. Completely immersed in their conversation, neither noticed when Beverly and Deanna quietly slipped out of Ten-Forward. The two women didn't mind, though. Both thought things were going well, and they exchanged silent smiles as they went their separate ways at the door. But not too long after, maybe half an hour later, unable to stand the suspense of how the teens' conversation was going, they again found themselves outside of Ten-Forward. They almost ran into each other in the corridor, and after a moment or two of conspirational conversation, they headed back to the table where they had been.

As they had decided before coming in, Beverly positioned herself on the side of the table where Kathren was, just beside and behind her, and Deanna did the same on the other side, where Wesley was. They had decided to indulge in a little harmless, girlish fun, just to suit the occasion-sort of. Although it was more along the lines of what an annoying brother or sister, or parent, might do at a time like this....oh well.

Wesley and Kathren were still talking, but it sounded as if the conversation was winding down. Not to mention that they apparently had never noticed that Deanna and Beverly had ever left.

"It's been really interesting talking to you," Wesley was saying.

"Thanks. You too."

"Thanks. Umm..." Wes looked around, spoted Deanna behind him, and then looked back to Kathren. "If you're sister here doesn't mind, I can show you around the ship sometime, if you want me to."

She smiled, "I'd like that, Wesley." She started to look up at Deanna for permission. Before she could, however, Beverly leaned over and whispered something to her, and she made sure it was just loud enough for her son to hear as well.

"You know," she said, laughing slightly as she did so. "Wes hasn't had the best luck with girls."

At about the same time, Deanna whispered to Wesley, again making sure that the other teen could hear, "And she's never had much luck with boys either!" She knew that from contact she'd had with her sister over the years they'd been apart.

At hearing what was said about them, both teenagers stared up and over each other, openmouthed, at the adult across from them, both embarrassed. That lasted a whole two seconds before they exploded.

"Mom!" Wesley cried.

"Deanna!" wailed Katheren at the same time.

As the women laughed, suddenly what was said _to_ the teens registered, and they looked back down at each other.

"You haven't?" they asked simultaneously.

"Gosh, um," Wesley said timidly. "You...you don't, um...'look' like that would be a problem for you."

Kathren blushed. She didn't need her Betazoid senses to tell her that he was implying he thought she was pretty. "Thanks. I...I was going to say the same about you," she smiled shyly.

"Really? Uh, thanks," Wesley smiled. "You know, if you want, and if Deanna doesn't mind, I can show you around now."

"I don't mind," Deanna said readily.

"Me either," Beverly agreed.

"Then of 'course' I want to go now," Kathren said, standing up and grinning. "I've been waiting to see this ship!"

"Then let's get going. Come on, let's get out of here and away from 'them'," Wesley said, grinning as well as he glanced at his mother and Deanna. Kathren laughed, and followed Wes as he turned and headed toward the door.

Over the next the next few weeks, Katheren and Wesley became best friends. They were always doing somthing together, and if you saw one the other was sure to be close by. Five weeks after meeting, neither of them could have known or would even have suspected what was about to happen--something that would frighten them, and a good number of other people quite a bit, but something that would strengthen their friendship just as much...


	2. The Romulan Threat

Okay, here's the second chapter. Hope you like it. If you are reading this please review! I'm new here and I want to know what you think!

Chapter 2

Captain Picard sighed as he sat in the command chair. The _Enterprise _was rarely boring, but today it most certainly was. As of this moment the ship was cruising steadily at warp four. It had been that way for the past several days, and they were all ready for something to happen.

Suddenly, something on the viewscreen began to shimmer, and the captain knew that they had gotten their wish.

"Captain! Romulan Warbird uncloaking directly ahead!" Worf called from his tactical station. Then everyone saw it on the viewscreen.

"All stop, red alert!" Picard said immediately, standing. But the Romulan ship, to everyone's surprise, did nothing, or seemed to do nothing, but sit in space. Except for the wailing of the red alert sirens in the background, the bridge became silent, and as tense as a stretched rubber band.

Worf finally broke the silence, but the news he relayed was not exactly good. "Sir, the Romulans, have just attempted to beam several personnel off of the ship. Shields have been raised to block them."

Picard turned to face Worf. "Who? From what part of the ship?" he asked, and at the same time wondering why they had tried.

"It was not a specific place sir. It appeared to be teenagers and younger crewman. It also appeared to be somewhat random," the Chief of Security answered.

It clicked. _They want prisoners. And they want prisoners that they can be relatively sure are fit. _The captain thought in dismay, along with plenty of disgust. Because that could only mean one thing. _But why? And why are they going after a Starfleet ship? _Picard looked at Riker. He could tell that the Commander was thinking the same thing.

"Keep our shields up," Picard said to Worf. Then he sat down again, and fixed his eyes on the Warbird, ready for whatever happened next, for whatever the Romulans did. But soon a thought caused his gaze to drift down and to land on the young man seated at the helm, Wesley Crusher. Lt.Worf had said that some of the people that the Romulans had attempted to beam off of the _Enterprise _had been as young as teenagers. Those young people weren't members of the crew; they were civilians. Something had to be done to provide them with at least _some_ extra protection. And there was only one thing that he could think of to do.

"Mr.Worf," Picard said.

"Sir?"

"Have all of the teenagers on board go to Ten-Forward. Have them stay there until the Romulans are gone and this threat is over. Make sure that as much shield power as possible is put into protecting that area of the ship, and do anything else you feel is nesscesary to ensure that none of them will be taken from the _Enterprise_."

"Aye sir," Worf readily agreed.

At hearing what the captain had ordered, Wesley glanced backward, but said nothing.

Picard made a shipwide announcement, and his order was carried out. Lt.Worf assigned security officers to stand guard both inside and outside of the Ten-Forward lounge, in the event that the Romulans decided to try beaming themselves over to the ship. Soon after that was done, something on Worf's console beeped.

"Captain," he said. "They are hailing us."

Picard stood again. "On screen."

The red alert sirens cut off, and the image of the Romulan ship disappeared to reveal that of its bridge and the face of its commander, who did not look at all happy.

"Lower your shields immediately," the Romulan demanded. "Allow me to transport who I want!"

"I can't do that," Picard said. _This Romulan is not acting normally, _the captain thought. _He must be acting on his own, not on orders._

"You will, or I'll blown your ship to pieces."

"I highly doubt that," Picard answered defiantly.

The Romulan Commander scowled. "I mean it, captain. I'll give you a chance to lower your shields and let me take them calmly. If you do so I will leave your ship and the rest of your crew alone. But in two hours if you do not do that, then I will take them by force."

"And how will you do that when our shields are up?"

Now the Romulan smiled. "I have my ways."

The Romulans severed the link, and the commander disappeared. Wesley turned in his seat to look at Picard.

"Captain?" he said.

"Yes, Mr.Crusher?"

"Umm…" Wes cleared his throat. "Should I go too? To Ten-Forward I mean?"

Picard thought on that for a few seconds. It didn't take long to decide though, because Jean-Luc knew that Beverly would be both worried sick and furious if anything were to happen to her son. Shortly he nodded. "Yes, I think you should. But you may come back to the bridge once the Romulans are gone."

"Yes sir," Wesley said, not sure weather he should be happy that he would be protected in Ten-Forward, or disappointed that he would not get to stay on the bridge.

A few minutes later Wesley walked through the door of the Ten-forward lounge, and spotted Kathren seated alone at a table near him. She saw him as well and waved him over to her. Wesley made his way to the table and dropped into the chair across from her.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"Not long. You know, I started to object when Beverly told me that I should come here too, but that mother of yours settled that argument in two seconds flat!"

Wes grinned. "Yeah, I had a feeling it would go something like that."

Kathren rested her chin on top of her folded arms on the table. "I've only been here for about five minutes I think, but with almost nothing to do it's seemed like ten or twenty."

Doing the opposite of his friend, Wesley leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "This does look like its going to be a boring couple of hours, doesn't it?"

Kathren sighed, "Most definitely."

Then the two of them fell silent; both a little worried by what was occurring. Wesley stared out the windows at the front of the lounge. Normally they would have shown stars lazily flying by, but now they only provided a good view of the Romulan ship that was floating in space in front of the _Enterprise._

_Why didn't the captain think of that before he chose Ten-Forward? _Wes thought. _The view doesn't help any._


	3. Captured!

Ooops I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter. Well, here's the disclaimer for the story: Obviously I do not own ST:TNG or any of the things or Characters in this story, except for the one that is original, which is Kathren. She is the only thing in this story I own.

Thanks for the reviews guys! Keep them coming! And I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

Chapter 3 

Two hours later the two ships still sat in space, staring each other down, it seemed. The bridge was silent and tense, as well as Ten-Forward. Several conversations had been started in am attempt to raise the spirits of the occupants of the lounge, but then had been dropped. Guinan had been hovering from table to table, asking if anyone wanted anything and doing her best to cheer up the unusually quiet teenagers, but nothing seemed to work. All seemed to feel that something wasn't right. The usually cheery hostess had eventually become quiet herself.

Something was wrong. Something was about to happen, something bad. She knew it. Everyone wanted this Romulan episode to be over with, but that wasn't about to happen. Normally Ten-Forward would be buzzing with the voices of dozens of people, but not today. Wesley sighed. If any of them were anything besides apprehensive, they were _bored._

Suddenly Kathren gasped and jumped to her feet. Throughout the room, other gasps and surprised screams could be heard.

"What?" Wes asked, turning in his seat to look back at the rest of the room. At first he didn't see anything, but after a few seconds he yelped and scrambled out of his set. He backed toward Kathren, his mouth hanging open. "What's going on?!" he cried.

"Captain!" Worf, up on the bridge, said suddenly. "The Romulans are beaming people out of Ten-Forward!"

"Put our shields back up," the captain said immediately. "What were they doing down?"

"They are up sir!" Worf said. "They're beaming through our shields."

"But that's impossible," Picard protested. Jumping to his feet, the captain hurried up the ramp to stand next to the Klingon, looking closely at his board. When he had seen for himself that it was true, he looked down at Will. "Number one, Worf, get down there. Find out what's going on. If this console isn't malfunctioning, and they really have found a way to beam through our shields, than get everyone out of Ten-Forward. Keep them moving once they're out. Maybe that will confuse the Romulans long enough for us to get away."

Will nodded, and he and Worf headed immediately for the turbolift. Then Picard turned back to the command well, where Deanna Troi was the only officer left sitting. The ship's counselor looked particularly upset.

"Counselor?" he asked, concerned.

Deanna sighed and looked over at the captain as he sat down. "Kathren's down there. Beverly must have sent her, and I'm worried about her."

Picard nodded, "Wesley is there as well. For now we can only hope that neither of them have been taken already."

"Well," Kathren said, backing up along with Wes. "Either our shields are down, or the Romulans gave discovered a way to beam through them. I don't like either one."

"I know that! Stupid question! I mean, what are we supposed to do about it?!"

"There's probably nothing we 'can' do," Kathren gulped.

Wesley gulped as well, "Oh boy."

Just then the doors on the other side of the lounge slid open, and everyone else began to stream out. Meanwhile, the third small group of teenagers had been transported from the room, and Wesley and Kathren were becoming genuinely scared.

"Come on," Wesley said, grabbing her hand and hurrying toward the door. By now most of everyone had already gotten out, and they could see the chaos in the corridor beyond. It was then that they also noticed Riker, Worf, and Guinan in the doorway shooing people out as quickly as possible.

"Commander!" Wesley called.

Will looked up. "Come on Wes, hurry!" he called back. The two teenagers broke into a run, but they could already see that they would be the last ones out. Then suddenly, it happened. Two identical beams of green transporter energy surrounded them, and within seconds they were gone.

"Wesley! Kathren!" Riker yelped in alarm. Then they were gone, leaving Riker, Worf, and Guinan standing stunned in the doorway of Ten-Forward, and the rest of the teenagers and security officers who hadn't been taken still running panicked in the corridor.

On the bridge, Captain Picard and Counselor Troi waited anxiously. Finally, they heard Commander Riker's voice.

"Riker to bridge," came the commander's glum voice.

Without being told, they both knew the news wasn't good. "Bridge here," Picard replied. "What happened, Number One?"

"Well, we were able to get most of them out of Ten-Forward, and the Romulans stopped transporting, but ten or so were taken. We don't know the exact number or the names of most of them yet though. At least two or three of the were security officers."

"What about Kathren," she asked, worriedly. "She's still down there, isn't she?"

Riker sighed. "No. No she's not. Sorry, Deanna."

Deanna slumped. "It's all right Will, you tried."

"And captain?" Will said softly. "Wesley was taken as well."

Picard gulped silently. "Thank you for the report, Number One. Tell everyone down there to go back to wherever they were before this, then get back to the bridge. We've got to get them back."

"Yes sir. Riker out."

Once Will's voice no longer filled the bridge, Picard sat stunned. How had this happened? How had they been able to transport through the ship's shields? And how was he supposed to tell Beverly that Romulans had captured her son? Not to mention the other parents. He looked up as Riker and Worf exited the turbolift and crossed to their respective places.

"Captain," Worf said as soon as he reached his station. "The Warbird is gone!"

Picard turned in his seat. "What do you mean, it's gone?"

"It went into warp sir, it left. I believe I can track them, though. They have not gone far."

The captain sighed and turned back around. "Then make it so, Mr.Worf. Helm, take your course from Lieutenant Worf." He paused for a few seconds. "Engage."


	4. Romulan Ship

Thanks for the continued reviews you guys! Keep letting me know how the story is going. I'm so glad you like it so far, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the story just as much. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up; I went on a trip with my church youth group and did not have access to a computer for several days. Anyway, here it is finally. Yay! (Updates will not always be this slow, thank goodness. Just thought you should know.)

Chapter 4

When Kathren and Wesley materialized on the Romulan ship, both of them nearly fell over, having been running. They caught themselves, however, and then realized that Romulans surrounded them. The transporter platform was encompassed by wall on three sides, except for the front, and that was where the Romulans were. Their eyes widened, and both of them started to back up, simultaneously reaching for the other's hand again. The two teens backed into the wall. Kathren glanced to her left at Wesley, a worried look on her face, just as he did the same.

But then the Romulans rushed toward them. Kathren screamed. Wesley tried to move in front of her but she pulled him back against the wall, afraid he would be hurt. Before the Romulans reached them, however, two separate panels in the wall behind each of them slid open to reveal doorways into another room. Losing their grip on each other's hands, they both stumbled backward through the openings, and right into the hands of four more Romulans. Obviously this had been planned.

Quickly realizing that it wouldn't help to struggle, Kathren relented and allowed the two that had been waiting on her side to lead her across the room. Wesley, however, was another story entirely. As soon as the Romulans grabbed him he began to struggle vigorously, doing anything and everything possible to free himself. And even though none of it worked, as the two were too strong for him, he wouldn't stop.

"Wesley, calm down!" Kathren yelped, worried that he would hurt himself, or that the Romulans would hurt him. But he either didn't hear her or didn't care. More men had to come help their colleagues, and in order not to risk losing their grip on him, had to pick him up off the floor. They began to carry him toward the other side of the room, following the two leading Kathren. Kathren was worried about him, but decided that she had better look around to see where they were, so she focused some of her attention on taking stock of her surroundings.

The room was huge, and almost completely circular. Instead of a normal brig, around most of the edge of the room there were small compartments, each about the width of two or three doorways, in which the rest of the teenagers and officers that had been taken had been put. Each contained one person, and there weren't really that many of them, considering how many had been in Ten-Forward. They had managed to transport about fifteen or so before it had become too dangerous to transport any more, and they had stopped and left. Kathren counted all of them and came up with 17. That meant that she and Wes made 19.

Then she studied the cells more closely. None of them had a front wall; the door was a force field. Each had a wide bench-like seat protruding from the back wall, spanning the length of it, which was obviously meant for sitting or sleeping. The rest of the _Enterprise_ people were in cells that lined one side of the room, but for some reason the Romulans headed toward the other. Kathren sighed, realizing that it must have something to do with the trouble Wesley was making. She looked back at him, but he still hadn't stopped struggling. He hadn't even slowed up, even though there was no doubt he was tired.

"Wesley!" Kathren tried again. "Come on! Stop!" He paid her no attention at all, and she shook her head in frustration. "Oh good grief." She looked forward again. They had reached the edge of the room, and the two Romulans behind her deposited Kathren in one of the tiny rooms, then left. However, the ones carrying Wesley still had plenty of work to do. Kathren stood as close to the force field as possible, wanting to be able to see what was happening. Before she did though, she noticed that both walls of the tiny room she was in had a long, narrow, floor-to-ceiling window, which allowed her to see into the compartments on either side of her.

Wesley continued to struggle, and by now the Romulans had set him back down on his feet and were trying to force him into the cell to her left. They were not having much success, and after several moments of vain effort at getting the frantic teenager into the cell, one of them became rather agitated, drew back, and kicked him. The blow landed hard in the boy's stomach. Wesley yelled in pain when it hit, knocking the breath out of him and sending him staggering backward.

"Wes!" Kathren cried in alarm. But being hit didn't stop him either, and as soon as he steadied himself he began to struggle again. The Romulans picked him up again after that then began to talk quietly among themselves, trying to figure out what to do. But over Wesley's yelling Kathren couldn't hear much of what they said. After a few minutes of doing her best to read their lips and observing their gestures though, she was able to make out what they were going to do. Since they couldn't force him into the cell, they had obviously decided that they were simply going to throw him in, then turn on the force-field before he got back up.

Now, normally that would not have been that much of a problem. Under other circumstances that would not have alarmed Kathren as much as it did, but the space they were planning on tossing him into was small. With the walls so close and that bench sticking out from the back, she knew that if they threw him hard enough or he landed the wrong way that he could easily be hurt.

"Wesley stop!" Kathren shouted. "Stop it now! Wes, they'll hurt you, stop it! Please!" He didn't respond. "Wesley!!" she screamed, beginning to panic.

By then the Romulans had broken their tight circle of conversation and were moving apart, preparing to execute their simple plan. The Romulan Commander had arrived there shortly before, and when he ordered them to do it Wesley stopped, paying attention for once. Then he realized what it meant, and he didn't like it. He knew very well that with the combined strength of the Romulans, if he hit something hard enough he could be seriously injured.

"No wait!" Wes cried, but too late. The Romulans tossed him into the compartment.

"Wesley!" Kathren yelped, rushing to the window. Wesley's body came into view in the midst of a scream. But it was cut short when his back struck the edge of the bench, and then his head as he fell. Wesley slumped to the ground, unconscious. "Wes?" Kathren called, dropping to her knees beside the window. "Wesley?" Nothing. He didn't wake up when she called to him. But from what she could tell from her limited Betazoid senses (they had never been very strong) Wesley should be fine except for the fact that he had been knocked out.

Kathren sighed and leaned back against the wall. The only thing left to do now was wait.


	5. Romulus

Chapter 5

"Any sign of the Romulans?" Captain Picard asked.

"None sir," Worf answered briefly.

Picard sighed. It had been three hours and they still had not found the Romulan Warbird. So far Lt. Worf's attempts to track them down had had no results but failure. 19 people had been taken. 15 of them were teenagers, and the rest security personnel. The parents of the teens had been gently informed as to what had happened, and had also been assured that everything possible would be done to get them back. Still, it had taken some work to keep a few of them calm, and Counselor Troi's help had been greatly appreciated on that front. Especially considering the fact that her sister had been kidnapped as well.

As for Beverly, who immediately after learning had come straight to the bridge, she sat next to Troi beside herself with worry even so. She had done nothing for the past three hours but stare straight ahead at the viewscreen and every few minutes ask Worf the same question that Picard had just asked. Unfortunately, so far the answer had been no every time. Other than that, the bridge was unusually quiet.

After hearing Worf's answer, Picard sighed inwardly and gave Deanna and Beverly a sympathetic glance. Oh, if only they could find them!

A soft groan woke Kathren from her nap. The young Betazoid blinked and rubbed her eyes. _Whoops,_ she thought, sitting up. _I didn't mean to fall asleep._ That was somewhat strange; it had only been mid-morning when they had been transported off the _Enterprise_. _How long have we been here?_ She wondered. Then she heard another groan, and remembered what had woken her up.

"Wesley?" Kathren asked quietly, turning to the window. She pushed a bit of blonde hair behind her ear that had escaped her braid while she slept. Wesley seemed to waking up. He shifted and groaned again. "Wesley?" Kathren said again, a little louder this time. Slowly her friend's eyes opened.

"Huh? Wha…Where?" Wesley asked confusedly, starting to push himself up from where he had landed on his back on the floor. "Oww," he winced.

Kathren sighed, "We're on a Romulan ship, Wes."

"Oh…yeah," he said. "I know." Then he pushed himself up into a sitting position against the wall. He gasped and shut his eyes from the pain in his back when he did it.

"Be careful!" Kathren cried in alarm, wishing she could get to him.

"I'm okay," Wesley said, the sharp pain in his back having quickly receded to a dull ache. "It just hurt when I sat up. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm 'fine', Kathren," he said forcibly.

"All right, all right."

Wes sighed. "So now I guess we have to find a way out of here, huh?"

"Yeah," Kathren replied. "Or hope that the _Enterprise_ rescues us." She was about to say something else, but then she heard someone enter the large outer room. Both she and Wesley stood as they looked out to see two Romulans headed their way. The Romulans retrieved the two teenagers from their cells, and then, without any explanation, began to lead toward the door.

As they walked., Kathren's gaze happened to fall on one of the security officers, and she noticed that he didn't have his combadge. Kathren quickly glanced at the other three; they didn't have theirs either. She looked at Wesley, and the expression on his face when he looked back at her told her he'd noticed, too.

This was _not_ good. Well, at least now they knew at least one of the reasons why they were being taken somewhere, but that couldn't be all it was, could it? A few moments later they were still walking and they were both getting a little impatient. They glanced over at each other, and after a few seconds of silent eye conversation between the two friends, they knew what they were going to do. The Romulans suspected nothing, and thus, at the same moment, they were both able to surprise the guards by breaking free and running for it.

However, the Romulans recovered quickly. One of them grabbed Wesley's shoulders from behind and swung him around, slamming him against the wall. Kathren tried to ward off the other, but he knocked her to the ground.

"Kat!" Wes yelped, finally pushing the first one off of him and starting toward her. But then he stopped and swayed, dizzy; apparently the harsh impact of his already bruised head against the wall had not helped his stability. So, the Romulans seized their captives again, and continued down the corridor.

"Well, that didn't work," Wesley scowled.

"Nope," Kathren sighed.

Several minutes later the Romulans finally stopped in front of a set of double doors. The doors opened, and the teens looked around curiously as they were led in. The room was rather large, with huge metal shelves lining the walls and in rows inside. Some of the shelves held large containers, and some were empty. It was obviously a cargo bay of some sort, but it didn't _feel_ like a cargo bay. It felt different; there was a frightening air to the bay, but neither Wesley nor Kathren could put a finger on exactly what it was.

But why had the Romulans brought them here? Well, hopefully they would get some answers now. The Romulan Commander was waiting for them a few yards away.

"What's going on?" Wesley demanded of him angrily.

"Why are we here?" from Kathren.

The Commander frowned. "You're on my ship because I want you to be, and we're on our way to Romulus. That is all you need to know and all I am going to tell you."

Kathren and Wesley froze. If the Warbird reached Romulus, or even crossed the Romulan Neutral Zone before the _Enterprise_ rescued them, it would be much harder to get them back. There was also a chance that if they got that far they would never see home again at all. Neither of them had really realized it as a possibility until just now, and it scared both of them. The friends gulped, telling themselves, assuring themselves that they would be rescued in time.


	6. Strange Devices

Yeah, this chapter is short, sorry, but the next one will be longer okay? Thanks for your reviews so far! Keep reviewing and enjoy!

-Star Trek Freak

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Chapter 6

The Commander walked slowly toward Wesley and Kathren. "Oh, but if you are asking, more specifically, why you were brought to this room, well," he said, stopping just in front of them. "The answer to that is simple."

With that, the Romulan reached up and took their combadges. Both of the teens tried to move away, but the other two men behind them kept their grip tight. The Commander walked across the room and set the two communicators down on an empty shelf. Near where he laid them down were two other small objects, which he scooped up into his hand and then headed back to where his captives were.

"I've been told what happened when you two were beamed aboard, You two made quite a scene. And not only that, but if I'm correct, you attempted to run while you were being brought here," the Commander said, stopping in front of them again. Both teenagers stiffened.

"And?" Wes practically growled. But Kat remained silent.

"And," the Romulan said. "I will be forced to punish you."

"What?!" both Kathren and Wesley cried in alarm. Again they tried to move, to break free of the Romulans' grip, but the two men were paying more attention now, and it was impossible.

The Commander opened his hand to reveal what he had picked up. They were two simple-looking, small, flat squares of bare circuitry, about the size of communicators. The Romulan then attached them to the same place where their communicators had been.

Wesley looked down at the thing on his shirtfront, and didn't notice the Romulan back away. What the objects were, neither Wesley nor Kathren knew, but there weren't too many things that they _could_ be. It could, he thought, be a device to keep track of them or something; but then again, none of the other _Enterprise_ people had them. At least he hadn't seen any, anyway. He also obviously seriously doubted that it was another form of communicator. So what else…oh no.

The boy's head jerked up, the color draining immediately from his face. He glanced at Kathren, but she was keeping an eye on the Commander, who was now several yards away, and seemed oblivious to what Wesley had realized. Going by what the Romulan had said, the strange devices could only be….His thought was interrupted when suddenly the two Romulans behind them let go, backed up and quickly shot out the door before the teenagers had any idea what was going on. A soft click told them that the door had been locked again; they were still trapped inside.

Kathren and Wesley spun back around to face the center of the room, both panicked and looking to see if the Commander had left too. But he hadn't. They spotted him on the on the other side of the room, holding what looked to them like a small, relatively flat metal box, but with button, but with a pad touch pad on top. Now, looking at the menacing grin on the Romulan's face, Wesley realized with horror that his deduction had been correct. The objects attached to their clothing were meant as torture devices, and the box the Commander held must control them.

Immediately Wesley reached up and tried to pull his off, telling Kat to do the same. She had apparently figured it out by then, too. She started to try to pull hers off as well, but before she could two things happened at once: Wesley realized that the device wasn't coming off……..and the Romulan Commander turned his on.

* * *

Okay….the devices in this chapter? Well, you remember the agonizers in _Mirror, Mirror_? In a Next Generation sequel to that, written by Diane Duane I think, the agonizers are smaller, and they look the same as the communicators in the normal universe. Well, I sort of used that idea. I figured the Romulans are smart; if they had a need for something like that, which this Romulan does here, that they would figure something like that out. So in this story they did. 


	7. A terrible experience, And hope

Here's chapter 7 guys! Read, review, and enjoy! I cannot thank you guys enough for your reviews so far. It helps me a lot to know that you care enough to take the time to do that, and that you like my story!

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Chapter 7

Wesley Crusher screamed as pain worse then anything that he had ever felt before flooded through his body at the touch of a button by the Romulan Commander. His legs buckled, and he fell to his knees.

"Wesley!" Kathren cried, following him down and kneeling beside him. "Wesley?" Unable to answer her, Wesley only moaned, wrapping his arms around himself as he trembled in pain. Kathren looked up at the Romulan. "Stop it!" she begged. "Stop hurting him, please!" But the Romulan ignored her, glanced down at the control in his hands, and touched something on it. At the same time Wesley gasped, releasing a yell.

"No!" Kathren shouted as Wes continued to moan and shake, seeing that the pain had been increased. "No, don't do this to him! Stop!" But still the Commander ignored her; he poked at something else on the object he was holding. Kathren yelled in pain when her's was activated as well, sending her tumbling backwards.

Her jaw clenched, Kathren struggled back to a sitting position. Wesley was still on his knees, trembling violently. What now? She could barely think straight for the pain, much less think of a way to get he Romulan to stop. A surge of pain overtook her and she screamed suddenly, tears seeping from the corners of her eyes.

"Kat?" Wesley gasped, glancing over at her. "Are you okay? -AH!" Now even speaking was painful, and his question ended in a yell.

"I guess," Kathren managed to say back, gasping. Suddenly Wesley shrieked, toppling over and curling up into a tight ball on the floor. He continued to scream, his whole body convulsing as the pain throughout his body increased at the control of the Commander.

"Wes!" Kathren cried, moving towards him. Slowly, and painfully for both of them, she helped him sit back up, but he wasn't able to stay that way. The boy fell weakly into Kathren's arms, shaking like a leaf. Kathren winced at her friend's pain and her own, holding onto him. Soon the pain had reduced him to tears, and Kathren clutched her friend's shuddering form, angry at the Romulan for doing something like this to them, especially Wesley. She was also relieved that she wasn't in enough pain that she couldn't comfort him. Maybe holding him wasn't much, but it was all she could do at the moment.

Unfortunately, that was when the Commander turned hers up as well, and soon Kathren also lapsed into screams. The two teenagers clung to each other for dear life, the shudders racking their bodies threatening to tear them away from each other. Both were in so much pain that they thought the Romulan was going to kill them, that this was it, they were going to die. But that wasn't what the Romulan Commander had planned. To Wesley and Kathren it seemed like hours, but things stayed that way for several minutes, until the pain worsened to the point that they both lost consciousness.

* * *

Captain Picard sighed. Now the time since they had begun to try to pick up the trail of the Romulan Warbird had doubled, but still nothing.

"Captain," Worf spoke up. "I believe I have found them!" Every head on the bridge turned toward the Klingon.

"Yes?" the Captain said.

"There is a Romulan warp signature ahead; enough of one for us to follow."

Picard nodded as he turned back around. "Mr. Crusher-oh," he stopped as he remembered that Wesley wasn't there. "Excuse me, Ensign," he said to the young woman seated at the helm, where Wesley usually was. "Set a course to follow that signature."

"Aye sir," the ensign replied instantly, her fingers skipping across her board.

Picard started to look ahead again, but instead found himself glancing over at Beverly. Despite the fact that they now had a trail to follow, his slip had caused a crestfallen expression to come over the doctor's face.

"Don't worry so much," Picard said, addressing both Beverly and a worried-looking Troi. "It shouldn't be too long now before we find them. They'll be fine."

* * *

Kathren woke up on the floor of her compartment. How she had gotten there, exactly, she didn't know for sure, but her position seemed to be the same, so she assumed that she and Wesley had been beamed back to their cells. She sat up slowly, and with relief found that the only remnant of the episode in the storage bay was a mild headache.

Kathren turned to the window and found Wesley lying on the floor, just waking up. "Wesley, are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said.

Kat gulped, remembering what had happened. "I hope they find us soon," she said, her voice not as confident as she would have wanted it to be. With this new development in the way things were going, she was feeling less and less so.

"Yeah," Wesley agreed. Then he sat up, but hit his head on the underside of the bench rather hard on his way up. "Oww!" he yelled.

"Wesley!" Kathren yelped in alarm. "Are you okay?"

His head pounding, Wes rubbed the back of it. "Damn."

"Wesley!" Kathren said in surprise.

He looked up at her sharply. "What?!" he said in annoyance.

"You shouldn't say that!"

"Oh yeah? And why not?"

"It's not a nice word."

"I know that! So what?"

"It's wrong. Saying things like that is wrong."

Wesley rolled his eyes. "Oh please. Everybody talks like that Kathren, wake up. What could possibly be that wrong with it?"

"It just is, Wesley," Kathren insisted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Kat balled her hands into fists and growled in frustration. No one but her friends back at the academy knew of her faith. She'd been a little scared to tell any of her new friends, or even her family, once she'd realized how little-known and little-liked Christianity had grown by this century. But nevertheless, she had become a Christian at Starfleet Academy, because she'd known that it was what God wanted her to do, now that she knew who God was.

It had used to be much different, but not anymore. Unfortunatly by the 24th century most people, or at least most humans, didn't even believe that there _was_ a God, much less believe that He sent His son to die for everyone. In this day and age it was hard to find Christians, and Kathren had been blessed enough to meet a few at the academy. Even though since coming on board she had continued to pray, read her Bible, and do her best to live for Jesus, she hadn't said a word about it to anyone, and now she felt guilty for not doing so.

_Well,_ she thought. _This just proves that I need to stop being a chicken and start witnessing._ So she did.

"Wesley," she began. "There's something I should have told you a long time ago. And I really wish I had."

"What do you mean?" he asked, now looking thoroughly and completely confused.

"I'm a Christian."

"Huh?"

Kathren sighed; she could tell that he had absolutely no clue as to what she meant. And of course he wouldn't know. She'd known that. So, she took a deep breath, and dove in.

Starting at the beginning, she told Wesley everything. She told him of her Christian friends at the academy, and what happened there. Then she told him about what she believed. Wesley was curious, and eagerly she told him everything about her faith, loving being able to tell her best friend about Jesus and what He did for everyone.

At first Wesley had had ahard time believing that she was telling the truth, but slowly he realized that she was being serious, and listened in fascination as she talked, even if he didn't believe it for himself. Finally, after what must have been hours, and the lights had long since been dimmed, signaling ship's night, Wesley told her that they should probably get some sleep, but that he would keep in mind everything she had said. Kathren could have talked all night and started to protest, but looking around and seeing that the rest of the kidnapped teens and officers in the room were asleep, she realized that he was right.

Wesley and Kathren said goodnight to each other, then both settled down on their bench to try to get some sleep. Kathren prayed silently, thanking God for the opportunity to talk with her friend about her faith, and asking could they _please_ be rescued soon. Then she fell asleep, dreaming of getting off the Romualn ship.

* * *

Hey guys! The part at the end, what Kathren and Wesley were talking about, was inserted so that something later in the plot would work correctly, and for other obvious reasons. (Fellow Christians should know what I'm talking about.) Anyway, the story will continue as usual in the next chapter. Also, if have any questions concerning what the two were discussing, feel free to e-mail me. For instance if what it was about confuses you and you want to know more, I would be more than happy to help. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll have the next one up as soon as possible! 


	8. Oh dear

Here's chapter eight! Enjoy! Oh, and it's longer, yay! Keep reviewing, please.

Chapter 8

"Captain, I have located the Romulan ship!" Worf said.

"Where?" Picard asked immediately.

"It is on course for the Neutral Zone, undoubtedly headed to Romulus."

"Are we close enough to catch them in time?"

"Yes sir, I believe so, if we go to maximum warp."

"Data?" Picard said. "How long at maximum warp?"

"Approximately one hour, forty seven minutes, and 57 seconds sir."

"Helm, set an intercept course."

"Aye sir."

Picard took a deep breath of relief. "Engage."

Beverly stared at the front viewscreen. _I hope Wesley's all right,_ she thought fervently.

* * *

A sudden yelp of pain awoke Kathren from a light and uncomfortable sleep; the benches were certainly not comfortable. As soon as she heard it she was up and standing at the window. There she saw Wesley sitting up on the seat in his cell, and a Romulan standing in front of him. Wes had a pained look on his face, and a hand lifted toward the back of his head. Considering the fact that his head was badly bruised, and that the Romulan didn't look very happy, she could easily determine what had happened. Well, the reason why Wesley had cried out, anyway. 

"Come with me," the man said sharply. But remembering what had happened the day before, Wesley refused. Then, to Kathren's horror, the Romulan seized her friend's arm and twisted it harshly. Wesley shouted, and Kathren flinched.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Hey, stop it! Don't do that!--Whoa!" Another Romulan took hold of her from behind and pulled her out of her cell.

When the first Romulan exited the other compartment with Wesley, Kahren could barely keep from using all the words she'd told him not to. The Romulan had the boy's arm twisted behind his back, and was pushing him forward. Wes's eyes were closed in pain, and when the Romulan tightened his grip, he gasped.

"Kathren help," he pleaded softly. Because he said it, the Romulan tightened his grip on the teenager's arm again, this time differently, and more brutally. Wesley screamed.

Kathren stared straight at the Romulan. "Stop it," she demanded firmly. "You're hurting him, stop it."

The Romulan smirked at her. "Why should I?" he said in a mocking tone. That, along with the fact that he was causing Wesley pain on purpose, angered her.

"Because if you don't he'll pass out before we get where we're going, you dummy!" Kathren shouted at the Romulan angrily. It was true, too. Wesley was in so much pain that he looked like he was about to fall over. Realizing she was right, the Romulan grudgingly let go of him, shoving him towards Kathren. Wesley yelled and nearly collapsed, but Kathren caught and steadied him.

After pushing Wesley, the first Romulan had gone around behind them to stand near the other one, and both of them were now on the opposite side of Kathren from Wesley. At first the Romulan Kat had yelled at only seemed mildly annoyed at her, but before either of the teens had time to react, he suddenly spun and punched her. Kathren yelped in surprise and pain and wheeled backward, Wesley catching her before she topped over.

"Hey!" Wesley said to the Romulan. "What do you think you're doing?" But both Romulans ignored him, pushing their charges ahead of them out of the room.

"Forget it, Wes," Kathren sighed. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wesley asked with concern as they entered the dark-tinted corridors of the Warbird.

"I think I should be asking _you_ that question," Kathren said. "Is your arm all right."

"Umm, it'll be sore for a while but it's okay."

One of the two Romulans, who had both been waking behind them, brushed between them and began to walk in front instead. "Quiet," he said as he passed, bumping Wesley's offended right arm in process and causing him to wince. _He did that on purpose,_ Kathren thought angrily. She almost did something about it, too, but they had learned their lesson the last time they had tried to run.

Both Kathren and Wesley remained silent for the rest of the short journey through the ship. They both suspected what their destination was, but silently hoped that they were wrong, or that it was for a totally different reason.

Unfortunately, though, as suspected, several minutes later they entered the same large storage bay as before. Again the door locked, but this time the two Romulans stayed, one behind each of them, holding them firmly in place as the Romulan Commander approached. They also noticed that there were two other Romulans waiting the room. But why?

"I have been informed," the Commander began. "Of the fact that the two of you were up rather late last night, talking."

"So?" Wesley asked in confusion.

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Kathren added.

"It has to do with plenty," the Romulan answered. "You see, I don't like it when my captives hold lengthy conversations, and you two certainly had a lengthy conversation last night. What were you talking about?"

"We were just talking," Wesley said. "What's it to you?"

"What's it to me?" the Romulan said. "You two could have been planning an escape for all I know, and if you were, then I want to know what you were planning."

"We weren't planning anything," Wesley said angrily.

"What else would you have been doing?"

"There are other things to talk about," Kathren said.

"Yes, I know, but I'm sure that you two must have been planning an escape of some kind." The Romulan grabbed the front of Wesley's shirt and pulled the boy closer to him. "And I want to know what it is."

Wesley stared angrily at the Commander, whose face was now inches from his own. "Lay off, would you? We weren't planning an escape, and that's it," the teenager retorted. The Romulan glared back at him and before Wesley knew what was happening, the Commander had released his shirt and punched him in stomach. Wes grunted and staggered backward. The Romulan behind him had let go when his commanding officer had grabbed him, and at a look from the commander the Romulan, along another waiting guard at the edge of the room, took hold of Wesley and held him up, and in place. The Commander punched him again.

"Don't!" Kathren cried in alarm. "Don't do that! Weren't planning anything! Stop!" It took two Romulans to hold her back as the Commander continued to pummel Wesley.

The Romulan looked at her. "You're lying," he said, and then punched Wesley again.

"Ah!" Wes yelled in pain. "Please," he gasped. "We're punch telling the truth. punch Stop, please! punch Oww! punch AH!"

"No!" Kathren pleaded. "No, please, stop!"

"Shut her up!" the Commander called to his men. The two Romulans obliged by clamping hands over Kat's mouth, preventing her from saying anything. She struggled against them, but it was useless, and the Romulan Commander continued to harshly punch her friend in the stomach. Tears filled her eyes as she was forced to watch Wesley being beat up, all for a reason that didn't exist.

Soon Wesley's stomach was so bruised that the blows hurt much more, and he began to scream. Finally the Romulan paused, breathing slightly harder than normal from exertion.

"Why?" Wesley gasped, pain making it hard to speak. "Why…why don't you…believe us?" He grimaced in pain from the fresh bruises.

"Because you have to be lying. Maybe a little pain will make you think twice about lying. Now, tell me what you were planning."

Wesley shook his head weakly, too exhausted to explain again that they hadn't. The Romulan punched him yet again, and Wes screamed. But, to his surprise, he didn't continue. He sighed in relief inwardly; it would have hurt too much to do it outwardly. But then the Romulans behind him roughly shoved him down. The pain from his impact with the floor set him gasping, and when Kathren was released from the grip of the men holding her, she dropped down beside him.

The Commander then suddenly kicked the boy in the stomach, causing him to scream, and Kat looked up at the Romulan, her anger mounting. "Stop it!" she yelled in fury. "You've hurt him enough! Leave him alone." On the verge of crying, she looked back to Wesley, saw that he was trying to struggle to his knees, and she gently she helped him.

Wes was glad that he wasn't being hit anymore, but he also hoped that he wouldn't have to walk back to his cell any time soon. He'd simply die if he had to walk any distance right now. Glancing up, Wesley saw the Romulan Commander reach into a pocket, and watched in horror as he pulled out the control he had used the last time they had been brought to this room. Before he could say something in warning to Kathren, the Commander touched something on the object he now held, and heard her scream behind him.

Wesley put his arm around her to comfort her, and started to look up at the Commander again, but found that he wasn't in front of them any more. Now he was at the other end of the room. Another officer had been let in down there, and was talking with his commander. Wesley couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but whatever it was apparently demanded the Romulan's immediate attention. As soon as he had heard the message, the Commander handed the control over to one of his subordinates, and the rest of the Romulans left.

It was also obvious that the cocky young Romulan left to watch them didn't think that either of them were going anywhere anytime soon, and he was probably right. A few short minutes later the man became bored, tossed the control onto an empty shelf near the door, and left.

Wesley gasped when the metal box hit the shelf; he couldn't tell exactly from where he was, but it must have landed on a button, because his device had turned on as well. Thankfully it hadn't turned on to a very high setting.

How long would they be here? He wondered. Wesley looked at Kathren, who was still moaning and shaking. Hers was apparently on a higher setting than his; most likely by a lot. Could she even survive for a long length of time like that? Could he? What he did know was that they had to find a way to turn them off, and then maybe they could get out of here.


	9. Problem Solving

Okay, this chapter had to be written, to clear up the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter, but don't worry, the next one will be better and more interesting. Not that this one isn't, lol.

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Chapter 9

Wesley sat on the floor next to Kathren, doing his best to think of a way to get the devices turned off. It should be as easy as pressing a button on the control, but it would be hard to _get_ to the control. It would be hard for either of them at this point. Kathren was shivering in pain next to him, and he himself was in a considerable amount of pain. He had a headache from the bruises he'd sustained on the back of his head, his right arm was sore, his stomach was hurting him like crazy, and his back wasn't doing too well either, after ramming into the edge of that bench. Then on top of that, there was the pain from the devices, which made it increasingly hard to do anything.

Still, he knew he had to at least try to make it over there. It was the only way to stop the pain, and if they didn't stop it they would never be able to try to find a way off of this ship. Maybe me felt miserable, but he wasn't in the same state he'd been in the day before, when the device had been on a high setting. He hadn't even been able to think straight then.

"Kathren?" Wesley said.

"What?" Kathren asked in a shaky, pained voice.

"I'm going to try to get over there," he said. "Maybe I can turn these that thing off for you." He didn't tell her about his.

Kat nodded, and with that Wesley tried it. Wes struggled to his feet, but when his legs buckled and standing made the pain in his stomach almost unbearable, he quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to make it. He thumped back to the floor.

"No," he gasped out loud. "That won't work." Breathing hard from pain, Wesley looked around he room. They were near one of the rows of shelves, and one of the shelves was right next to them. The row lead right to shelf where the control had been thrown. If Wesley hadn't been grimacing he might have smiled, but he realized then that even with the help of those for support, he couldn't do it alone. Neither, of course, could Kathren. Both of them were too weak right now, but if they tried it together…

Wesley put his hands on Kathren's shoulders and turned slightly so that they were facing each other.

"Kathren, listen to me," he said. Still gasping and shaking, Kathren opened her eyes and looked at him, signaling that she was paying attention. Then he continued, "Look, I don't think that either of us could get over there by ourselves right now. But if we did it together, I think we could."

"I can't, Wesley," Kathren moaned. "I don't even know if I could move right now."

"Yes you can. We can. We can do it if we work together. There's no telling how long those Romulans will be gone." Wesley looked down at the floor for moment, still breathing hard and trying to bring in some more air. Then he looked back at her, "Mine got turned on too when the control hit the shelf. What if we're stuck like this for a while? We have to do something."

"But I can't!" Kathren started to cry. "I won't, Wesley, no."

"Kathren, please!" Wes pleaded with her, near tears himself. "Don't you realize that if we don't take this chance we might never get home again?" And with the last sentence, there was no way that he could have disguised the trembling of his voice. Kathren didn't answer for a few moments, but cried softly while Wesley held her. Finally she looked back up at him, stopped crying, and gave him an answer.

"All right," she said unsteadily, pushing herself away from him and sitting up again, facing him. "You're right. We have to try."

Wesley could tell that speaking was difficult for her, and he wished with all of his heart that he could somehow spare her from the pain she was in, and, even worse, the pain she would have to go through in order for them to get to the other side of the room so they could stop the pain. Unfortunately, they had no other choice, and he couldn't. He also knew that the process would be harder on her than on him.

"Wesley?" Kathren asked. "How are we supposed to do this?"

"Well, the first thing we have to do is get up." Wes said, not sounding too enthused by the idea. Kathren went pale at the suggestion. "Don't worry," Wesley reassured her. "I'll help you. We'll have to help each other if we're going to do this." The girl nodded bravely, drying the tears from her face.

"Put your hands on my shoulders," Wesley commanded gently. His right shoulder was sore along with the rest of the arm, and he winced when Kathren did what he'd told her.

"Are you sure about this?" Kathren asked.

Wesley mustered a small smile. "Not really, Kat. But I think we can do it." He put his own hands on his friend's shoulders. "Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go." From his knees, Wesley pushed his feet under himself, then once again struggled painfully to his feet, pulling Kathren up as carefully as possible behind him, both grunting and gasping the whole way.

Once on their feet, Kathren stumbled forward against him, sending Wesley careening backwards into the nearest shelf, on which, for what seemed like the hundredth time, he hit the back of his head. Then, shaking it off and reaching behind him to take hold of the shelf, Wes pushed himself up and straightened as much as his pained body would allow. He winced when Kathren fell into him, and had to suck in a fast breath through clenched teeth to keep from screaming when she wrapped her arms around his waist in an effort to keep from collapsing. As for that, it worked for her purposes, but it didn't help him much.

"Now what?" Kathren asked breathlessly.

"Look," Wesley said shortly, motioning as best he could towards the table. Kathren looked out, saw the rows of shelves, and understood.

"Good," she said, giving a weak sigh.

"Come on," Wesley said quietly. "Gotta keep going."

Kathren groaned in protest, but followed what he did in preparation to move out, They had to make it through the spaces between the shelves, as well. Wesley pushed away from the shelf slightly, and Kathren let go with one arm so she could get beside him in stead of in front of him. He kept the other arm wrapped tightly around the piece of metal that was the corner of the shelf. Wesley put his left arm, his free arm, around his friend's shoulders, supporting her as well as himself.

Still clinging to the shelf with one arm, Wesley looked at her. "Ready?" Wesley asked, his voice a little unsteady, from both pain and fear. Kathren nodded, doing her best to ignore her own pain and fear as best she could.

Then Wesley let go and they both staggered forward, gasping at the sudden increase of pain. They barely made it to the next one without collapsing, and they stayed there for several minutes, gasping and waiting and waiting for the pain level to decrease at least some. Pulling each other close when it didn't, at least not as much as they'd hoped, they forced themselves to go on to the next shelf, and the next.

It continued that way, with the agonizing pain continuing to get worse as they went on. By the forth or fifth one they were both shouting at every step from it, until finally, they made it to the last one. Eyes closed in pain, Wesley groped for it, found it, then yelped as he pulled himself against it. Kathren, stumbling beside him, slowly sank to the floor, leaning against the shelf. She shook harder and harder, dissolving into tears.

"Kathren," Wesley asked softly, unable to speak any louder. "Kathren, are you okay?" She didn't answer. "Come on, Wesley said, grimacing. "I know it hurts a lot, but it's not much farther. All we have to do now is male the last few feet to the shelf where the control is. We can't stop now."

"I can't," Kat whispered.

Wesley sighed. "Look, Kathren, I wish we didn't have to either, but it's the only way. Come on, it'll be okay."

"No, you don't understand. I'm serious, I can't. My arms and legs aren't responding anymore. _I can't move._ I'm sorry, Wes, I really am, but you'll have to go the last stretch by yourself."

"Oh," Wesley said, feeling foolish.

Kathren stopped crying long enough to look up at him and ask, "Will you be all right?"

_NO!_ a voice in the boy's head screamed.

"Yeah," he heard himself answer, sagging against the shelf. He looked at the target shelf. A few feet suddenly looked like a few miles. Well, at least he didn't have to make it all the way across the room by himself. He knew he wouldn't have been able to do that, but a few feet he could manage, or at least he thought so. "I'll be fine," he gulped. Kathren looked down again. "I'm soy, Wesley."

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

Wesley stood there for a few minutes, trembling, waiting for the right moment to go, when he noticed that several small, darker spots had appeared on Kathren's hair. He squinted at her disheveled braid of blonde hair, his vision a little blurry all of a sudden. He took a shaking breath and realized that the spots were tears. His tears.

Wesley leaned back against the shelf, not even noticing when the bruises on the back of his head pressed painfully against the cold metal, and stared at the ceiling. _Why? _He wondered._ Why did this have to happen? Why do the Romulans have to be so cruel? I've never been in so much pain before. How I've managed to make it this far, I don't know._

"Wesley?" a weak voice interrupted his thoughts.

"I'm okay," he answered. "I'm going."

Wesley slowly moved around to the other side of the shelf. He took a deep breath, braced himself, then set out to on wobbly legs. He stumbled the first couple of feet, gasping. Then he fell his knees with a scream. After struggling back up, he continued.

Kathren watched him with tearful eyes, feeling, even if it wasn't, that it was somehow her fault he had to do it, and every one of his screams cut straight to her heart. Finally, Wesley reached the shelf, and fell into it, Trembling and screaming. He sank to his knees in front of it, reaching for the control. He pulled it toward him, and tried to find the _off_ button or something like one, but he couldn't read Romulan. He found the one that seemed most likely to be what he was looking for, and pressed it. Instead of turning of, however, the devices picked up. Both teenagers screamed, but then Wesley pressed another button and the pain ceased.

When it was gone Wesley collapsed backward in exhaustion. He lay on his back, trying to catch his breath, hardly able to believe that it was gone, until he heard Kathren's voice beside him.

"You did it."

Wesley turned over to his right to see that Kathren was sitting next to him. Except for the fact that she was obviously exhausted, and her face was still red from crying, she looked fine.

"We did it," Wesley corrected, grimacing as he sat up. His stomach didn't feel any better, and he noticed that he still had a whopping headache. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I think, as before, that I should be asking you that question," Kathren answered tiredly. "But yes, I'm fine. What about you?"

By now Wesley was gripping the edge of one of the shelf's platforms, trying to pull himself to his feet and hide how much in hurt at the same time. He made it up, turned around and leaned back, sitting on the edge if it.

"I'm fine, Kathren," he finally answered, his breathing having returned almost to normal.

"That's a lie," she replied neutrally.

He stared at her.

"Oh," he shifted uncomfortably. "It king of slipped my mind that you're Betazoid."

Kathren stood up, almost smiling, a shadow of one playing at the corners of her mouth. "Now how could you forget something like that?"

Wesley moved away from the shelf, trying to stand straight, but ended up stumbling and letting out a moan. Kathren took hold of his arms and steadied him, then pulled her friend into an embrace.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Wesley winced, but hugged her back. "No Problem," he replied, a small, tired smile appearing fleetingly on his lips. When they released each other, Wesley glanced at the door.

"Come on, let's get _out_ of here."

Kathren didn't have to be told twice.

* * *

Romulan Empress-Thanks so much for reviewing each chapter faithfully! That means a lot to me! And don't worry, the Romulan's plot will be revealed soon. There are only a couple more chapters.

Wolenczak2004-Don't think I sound spiteful when I say this or anything please, but let me one thing clear: It's not like I _enjoy_ having Wesley and Kathren tortured in the story, it just makes the story good. You know, they get tortured, they get out of it, they're okay, it shows them to be strong characters, happy ending, yada yada. K? Okay, good. Oh, and thank you very much for your reviews! Please continue!

Karone Evertree-Thank you bunches for the continuing reviews! They make my day! I can tell you have sense of humor from them. They help me, and give me laughs! Thanks again and please keep reviewing!


	10. Help!

Hey guys, sorry it took a little while to get this chapter up. We've been busy. Anyway, here it is, nice and long, yay! I hope you enjoy it, and please review, especially if you have been reading this and have not yet reviewed.

Also, if you guys would like to see more stories involving Wesley and Kathren, please tell me in your review!

* * *

Chapter 10

Once again Dr, Crusher asked Lieutenant Commander Data how much longer until they intercepted the Romulans.

"Approximately thirty twenty-eight minutes, thirty-six seconds," the android answered.

Picard glanced at Deanna and Beverly. Both seemed to be holding up well. They looked rather anxious if nothing else. And of course they had a right too. He himself was beginning to become impatient. In an uncharacteristic display of annoyance, the captain banged his fist lightly on the arm of his command chair. _Can't this ship go any faster? _He thought impatiently.

Wesley cautiously peeked around yet another corner among the many corridors of the Romulan Warbird. _How big is this thing?_ He wondered. _I've seen one before, but never been inside one. It seems to never end._ Whatever, it didn't matter right now. They had to hurry. Although, neither of them knew exactly _why _they were hurrying. They had spent nearly the last half-hour sneaking through the ship with no apparent destination, and in effect, wondering around until an idea about what to do hit them.

Wesley pulled his head back, but suddenly gasped aloud and leaned back against the wall. Staying on his feet for this long wasn't doing his injured stomach any good. He already felt worse than when they had left the other room.

"Wesley?" Kathren, who was right behind him, asked with concern.

"I'll be okay," he said, straightening again. "Let's go, it's clear."

Kathren nodded, and then they both rushed quietly around the corner…only to run smack into the Romulan Commander and another Romulan who had come out of a door just around it. They ran into them with enough force that the impact sent both teenagers flying backward to the floor, and all four stunned for several seconds. Luckily though, Kathren collected herself a bit faster then the rest of them, and quickly pushed at Wesley as she stood.

"Go, Wes!" she said urgently.

Wesley jumped to his feet and shot around the Romulans and down the corridor. Kathren was right behind them, but apparently they hadn't started off fast enough, because Wesley made it around them, but the Romulans grabbed Kathren as she ran past them. Kathren yelped in surprise, and Wesley, who was already several yards away, stopped suddenly and whirled around.

"Kathren!" he cried worriedly, starting back toward them.

"No! Run, Wesley! Go!" she yelled.

"But-" he began to protest.

"Run!" Kathren screamed as the Romulan Commander broke off to chase the boy.

Wesley finally obeyed her, turned, and hightailed it. _If I can get away I can come back for her, he_ thought as he ran, the Romulan right behind him.

Wesley had no idea what they would do to him if he was caught, and didn't want to find out. He also hoped that Kathren would be all right. But after thinking that, he had to focus on keeping himself running, and trying to ignore the increasing pain in his stomach and back. He ran as fast as he could, but his strength was flagging, and several times he stumbled, gasping, the Romulan nearly catching him. The only thing that kept the Romulan a safe distance away was the fact that Wesley had gotten a head start.

After a couple of minutes, Wesley started to feel extremely dizzy, making running even harder. He realized that he couldn't keep it up for much longer. And as soon as he rounded the next corner, from pain coupled with exhaustion and dizziness, he blacked out. He fell forward to the floor, but was only out for a few seconds. Unfortunately, though, that was long enough for the Commander to catch up to him. Wesley had started to get up when the Romulan flew around the corner and jumped on top of him, knocking him back down, his knees landing on the boy's back.

Wesley screamed, the weight of the Commander flattening him to the floor, crushing his middle, and pain flooding through his body. The Romulan pounded on Wesley's back and head, forcing him to stay down. But then the Commander seemed to change his mind, and jumped off of him. He then hauled a gasping Wesley to his feet, pummeling him the whole way. Wesley yelled as the blows hit his bruised stomach.

The Romulan pushed Wesley back against the right wall of the corridor, not letting up. Wesley was barely able to move for the grip the Commander had on him. Somehow, though, he managed to push the Romulan off of him.

Wesley staggered forward, his vision again blurred by tears of pain, and the injuries inflicted on his body rendering him unable to do anything else. He collapsed, but before he hit the floor the Romulan grabbed him, spun, and flung the boy against the opposite wall as hard as he could.

The other Romulan, who had followed his commander, rounded the corner with Kathren in time for her to see Wesley slam into the wall at high speed.

"Wes!' she gasped softly

Wesley moaned in pain and sank to the ground. He was lucky that the impact hadn't knocked him out, but he wasn't quite sure he felt lucky. He released a sob. Kathren gulped back tears as well, afraid for her friend, not knowing what the Commander would do next. She gasped when the Romulan pulled out his disrupter and aimed it at him. Wesley moaned again and finally opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was that weapon pointed at him. His eyes widened, his heart jumped up into his throat, and he pressed himself back against the wall.

"You know," the Commander began. "We were going to use you two along with the rest of them. We were going to force you to do what we wanted you to, force you to eventually go back to the Federation and gather information for us. But I can see now that that will be impossible to do with you two. You're too much trouble, and my only option is to kill both of you. Although…if your death knocks some sense into your girlfriend over there, I might consider sparing her."

Trying, but failing to hide his fear, Wesley looked at the Romulan. "You will?" he said, not knowing what else to say. "If she cooperates now you'll leave her alone?" He glanced over at Kathren, who was shaking her head vigorously, knowing where Wes was going with this.

"I said I _might_," the Romulan replied.

"Promise you will," Wesley said, looking at his friend again, sorrowful determination in his eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then continued. "Promise you won't hurt her and I won't resist."

"No Wesley!" Kathren said.

"Stay out of this, girl," the Romulan ordered, and with the command the Romulan holding her put a hand over her mouth. Then the Commander looked back at Wesley. "You won't?" he asked incredulously. "You'll let me kill you?"

"If you promise not to hurt her," Wes said, his voice trembling.

"Fine then. Agreed." The Romulan lifted his arm, and aimed more precisely. "Good Bye."

Kathren had squirmed until her mouth was free. "No!!" she screamed tearfully, struggling to break free of the Romulan's grip.

Wesley closed his eyes and braced himself, tears escaping from his eyes and rolling down his face. The Commander fired, and he thought he could do it, but Wesley didn't want to die. At the last moment he tried to move, started to stand. The beam missed its target of the boy's chest, but grazed the side of his lower left leg. Wes crumpled back to the floor with a shout of pain. Then the Romulan fired again and Wesley managed to dodge almost out of the way, the beam catching his upper right arm.

"Stop!" Kathren yelled. "Wait, please!"

"What?" the Commander asked irritably, for the moment turning away from his target, who was gasping as he sat on the floor.

"Please," Kathren begged, trying desperately to think of something. "Please, if you-if you're going to-to kill him, I mean, at least let me say goodbye to him first."

"Say goodbye then," the Romulan said.

"No, I mean let me go to him," Kathren said, now annoyed herself.

The Commander sighed in frustration. "Fine, but make it quick." He crossed his arms in impatience and looked at his subordinate. The Romulan let Kathren go, and she hurried to Wesley's side.

"What are you doing?" Wesley asked as she knelt beside him.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm stalling for time," Kathren said softly.

"What time?" Wesley gasped, still breathing heavily from the newly inflicted wounds. "He's already set on killing me, Kat, there's nothing you can do to stop him."

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to try. I'm not going to let him kill you, Wes," Kathren said, gently brushing some stray hair out of her friend's eyes.

"Kathren, please," Wesley begged, swallowing back the lump in his throat. "You're only making this harder. You know there's nothing you can do….please, just….just don't do anything stupid that'll get you killed too. I don't want you to die. I don't want to die either but…I don't have any choice."

"Wes…" Kathren began. But before she could get any farther Wesley yelped in sudden pain, his hand clamping over the wound to his arm. "Wes?" Kathren asked with concern. "What's wrong? Do they hurt that badly?" Wesley only nodded, gasping. "Let me see," Kat said, and obediently, but slowly, he pulled his hand away from the disrupter burn.

"Is it bad?" he asked.

"I can't really tell," she said. "Not just by looking at it, but, to tell the truth, it doesn't look that good."

Wesley frowned. "Not that it matters."

"Wesley, stop it," Kathren said. "You're not going to die. We can do something. We can get out of this…I just wish I knew how…" She stopped when suddenly her friends eyes widened at something behind her. "Wes, what?-"

"No!" Wesley screamed. He pushed her and she fell over backward. He started to throw himself down, too, but not before a disrupter beam drilled into his left shoulder and knocked him back against the wall. Kat heard the Romulan Commander growl in annoyance.

_Oh my gosh, _Kathren thought. _That shot would have taken me in the back. It would have killed me…He saved my life. _Quickly she rolled over and back onto her knees next to Wesley. He was unconscious, it seemed, but he also seemed not to be breathing.

"Wesley?" Kathren asked. "Wesley, can you hear me?" No answer. "Wesley?" she said again, beginning to worry. "Wesley, are you all right? Wesley?" She ducked when the Romulan shot at her again, then shook him, near panic. "Wesley! Wesley, wake up! Wake up, please!"

_Lord please,_ she prayed frantically. _He's my best friend, and he saved my life! Please, don't let him be dead!

* * *

_

Okay, don't panic guys! If you want a clue as to whether he is okay, consider the fact that I am Wesley lover, lol!

itsonlyme- Thanks for reviewing! It's all right that you were in an overly good mood. I like people in an overly good mood, lol! I usually am myself. Oh, and in answer to your question, you were not just in too good of mood…wink. Anyway, what happened to the next chapter of your story? I still want read it. I reviewed. Please hurry! I am in suspense here!

Karone Evertree- Well, I wouldn't know anything about nursing, only being in seventh grade, but I don't mind if you use terms from your classes in your reviews. Just as long as you explain them, like you did that time, lol! Anyway, thanks so much for continuing to review! Enjoy the rest of the story.

Wolenczak2004- Thanks for reviewing every chapter! Please continue. And thank you very much for the compliment!

Romulan Empress- Here it is. The Romulan's plot is revealed in this chapter. I hope it is to your satisfaction! And thanks again for faithfully reviewing!


	11. A Happy Ending Or is it?

Chapter 11

In the transporter room of the _Enterprise_, Deanna and Beverly waited anxiously, along with Captain Picard, as all of the captured persons were hurriedly beamed aboard. The two women stood next to each other for emotional support, and with their eyes they searched each of the four groups that were beamed over, looking for Wesley and Kathren. But after what O'Brien said was the last of them, they still weren't there. Both of them quickly turned to the chief.

"Where are they?" Beverly asked, concerned.

"Where is who? I beamed everyone out of holding cells our people were in. Is someone missing?"

"Wesley and Kathren," Deanna said. "They're not here."

"What? They're not here?" Picard asked, appearing beside them at the same time they heard the transporter room doors hiss shut, everyone having cleared out.

"No," Beverly said.

Picard cast a quick glance around the now-empty room. "Oh dear."

"Where are they?!" Deanna and Beverly asked at the same time.

"O'Brien looked down at his console. He touched a few buttons. "Here," he said. "Two more non-Romulan lifesigns. I don't know why I didn't see them before. One Betazoid, and one Human. That's them."

Beverly and Deanna sighed.

"Good," Picard said. "Beam them over here quickly, them we've got to get out of here." He tapped his combadge. "Picard to bridge."

"Sir?" Riker's voice asked from the bridge.

"Number One, as soon as we beam this last group aboard, get the ship out of here."

"Aye sir."

"Picard out." He tapped his communicator again to terminate the conversation.

"Wait," O'Brien said suddenly. "One of them just-" he stopped. "I'm beaming them now," he said, his hands moving across his board.

They all turned to face the transporter platform again, Crusher and Troi looking especially worried. What had he meant? Why hadn't the chief finished? One of them just what? Was one of them hurt? Both hoped not.

* * *

"Wesley, come on! This is not a good time to lose consciousness, or-or die on me! Not when we're being shot at! -Oww!" Kathren yelped in pain when a precisely placed disrupter beam from the Romulan Commander sliced across her right wrist. She twisted around to look at the Romulan, who was still standing on the opposite side of the corridor, and was looking rather annoyed at the moment.

"What are you doing?!" Kathren said angrily. But she never got a chance to hear the Romulan's answer, if he had even been planning on giving her an answer, for the moment the words were out of her mouth, a curtain of blue light enveloped both her and Wesley.

"The _Enterprise_!" the Commander yelled as he and the other Romulan jumping forward and attempted to fire on the disappearing transporter beams. But they were too late, and their captives vanished in a swirl of glittering particles.

* * *

Beverly, Deanna, and Captain Picard all gasped when Wesley and Kathren materialized. Wesley was unconscious, and obviously injured, and Kathren, on her knees beside him and turned the other way for some reason, reacted quickly and caught him before he fell over.

"Wesley!" Dr. Crusher cried, rushing to her son. Deanna went immediately to her sister.

"Oh dear," Picard said quietly, hovering over them.

"Beverly, he's hurt badly, and I'm not sure that he's breathing." Kathren proclaimed urgently. "We have to help him, quickly."

"What happened?" Beverly asked with concern as she pulled a tricorder out of the pocket of her blue medical jacket and began to scan Wesley.

"It's a long story." Kathren looked down at her friend. "He-he is still..alive, isn't he?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, but barely. If we get him to Sickbay immediately he should be fine. We need to hurry, though," Beverly said, closing her tricorer and putting it away.

"You're sure Wesley will be all right?" Captain Picard asked, an unusual level of concern in his voice.

Beverly glanced at the captain. "I'm sure," she said.

* * *

On the Warbird later that day, the Romulan Commander sat in his office, eyeing his first officer as he entered. "Any sign of them?"

"None sir. We've done everything possible to track down the Federation starship, but it's dissapeered. The _Enterprise _is long gone by now."

The Commander nodded. "Thank you. You may go now."

"Aye sir," his subordinate said, then turned and exited.

The Commander sat for a moment, and then suddenly pounded his fists on the desk and stood, looking out the window on the other side of the office.

"Maybe you got away this time," he said quietly, resolutely. "But I will find you two again. And next time, you won't be so lucky."

* * *

Several hours after being beamed aboard, Wesley awoke to find himself in sickbay, and his mother standing next to his bed.

"Mom!" he exclaimed happily. She leaned down to hug him, and he started to reach out to her as well, but stopped when he realized that both of his arms hurt quite a lot. He lay there while Beverly hugged him gently, being careful of his wounds, which were bandaged.

"I'm glad you're back," she said. "How do you feel?"

"Okay, I guess. My arms hurt, though." Then in confusion he asked, "How did I get here?"

Kathren walked up then, when she noticed that Wesley had woken up. "The _Enterprise _found us and beamed us out just after you were hit, thank goodness," she said.

"Oh," Wes said. "And speaking of me getting hit…how bad are they, mom-the disrupter burns?" he asked.

Beverly and Kathren looked briefly at each other, then back to Wesley. Dr, Crusher sighed. "They were serious, Wes," she said. "When we beamed you aboard you'd stopped breathing. We had to work hard to keep you alive…" she stopped, swallowing the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. The frightening experience of fighting for her son's life would not quickly leave her.

Wesley gulped, "Thanks," he said softly.

"You're welcome," Beverly said, stroking her son's cheek. "I'm just glad you're going to be okay."

Wesley tried to move his arms again, but grimaced in pain and stopped. "Yeah, _going to be_ okay," he said.

Beverly winced as she withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry, Wes. I did all I could to help them along, but I'm afraid the wounds will just have to heal the rest of the way on their own. Don't worry; it won't take too long. In a few days you'll be fine."

"Okay," he said.

Beverly took his hand and squeezed it briefly. "I have other patients to attend to, but I'll check on you later, all right?"

"Okay, see ya later."

"Beverly?" Kathren asked before the doctor could walk away.

"Mm?" she said, turning to the girl.

"Could I talk to him for a few more minutes?"

Dr. Crusher looked from Kathren to Wesley and back again. "All right," she sighed, smiling. "But just for a few minutes, and then you need to leave him alone. He'll never heel if he doesn't get any rest. You hear that, Wesley?"

"I hear you, mom," he said.

"Yes ma'am." Kathren said, giving her a mock salute. Beverly then laughed and walked away to tend to her duties.

Kathren turned to Wesley. "So, you feeling okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, about as good as I could feel right now," he replied. "What about you?"

"Me? Well, just after you lost consciousness on me a disrupter beam grazed my wrist, but it was small and your mom was able to fix that easily. Other than that I'm perfectly fine." Then both of them fell silent. "Umm, Wes?" Kathren said hesitantly, after a moment or two.

"What is it?"

"Um, well, out of curiosity, um. I was just wondering…well…have you, um, thought any about what we were talking about last night. I'm just curious."

"Kathren, I haven't had _time_ to think about anything since last night."

"Oh," she said. "Sorry, I, uh, should have thought of that."

"It's okay. And Kat?"

"Huh?"

"Look, I said I'd think about what you said, and I will, but don't, um…Don't just bring it up, okay?"

Kathren sighed. "All right, Wes, I won't bring it up. You'll talk about it when you want to, huh?" She sighed again, disappointed. She'd hoped that something would come out of their conversation. She'd hoped that maybe Wesley would become a Christian. But, she supposed, things such as that took time.

He looked away for a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so." The two of them fell silent again, until Wesley spoke up. "So, um, how long do you think mom'll keep me here?" he asked, smiling in amusement.

Now Kathren smiled. "I don't know. A day or two I would think."

"A day or two!" Wesley exclaimed in mock horror. "What in the world am I supposed to do in here for two whole days!"

Kat laughed at her friend's antic. "Don't worry; I'll come visit you."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Besides, I'll be around anyway. I do work here, you know."

"Oh you do?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh that's right, of course you do. I knew that," Wesley laughed.

"All right, Mr. Funny, enough playing," she said, enough playing. But inside, she was arguing with her self.

_Just tell him how you feel._

_No, not here, not now. _

_But the timing is perfect. _

_No! Later… I mean, what if he doesn't feel the same way?_

_All right, whatever…_

"Hey, hey!" Wesley said, ducking when as she messed up his hair.

Kathren pulled her hand back and left him alone. She smiled and said, "If you weren't injured I would really be getting you right now."

"But you've got to admit it was funny."

Kathren rolled her eyes and laughed. "Whatever. Anyway, I'd better go; wouldn't want your mother to get mad at me for bothering you."

"No, we certainly don't want that, do we?" Wes joked.

"No. Well, I'll see you later."

"See you, Kat."

"Bye, Wes." Kathren said, and then turned to leave.

Wesley watched her as she walked off.

_You should have told her how you feel about her._

_Are you crazy?! Right in the middle of sickbay?_

_It was the perfect time, and you passed it up._

_But what if she doesn't feel that way, too?_

_It doesn't matter now; she's gone. It'll have to wait._

And with that thought he closed his eyes to try to get some more sleep.

THE END

until next time…

* * *

And there will be a next time! Yay! I have story upon story in this little head of mine about Wesley and Kathren, and I will begin putting the next one up here as soon as possible! Before that, though, I'm going to post a short story about them on here. You can look for it. It will be entitled _Never Want to be Without You._ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my story!

An extra special thanks to the three people who faithfully reviewed _every single_ chapter: Romulan Empress, Karone Evertree, and wolenczak2004

You guys are so great! Come here and give me hug! Thanks so much!

I would also like to thank my other reviewers: itsonlyme; It's me, get over it; corinnetkn24; and Rusty Raccoon

Thanks all of you! I couldn't have done it without you!


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